


The Long Time Passing Job

by flickerface



Series: The Third Time's The Charm Job [2]
Category: Leverage
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-19 04:45:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3596847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flickerface/pseuds/flickerface
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"When they do end up awake in the room together, Hardison's focused on the job. The first morning it happens Eliot considers knocking out a hotel chef and stealing the uniform so he can make Hardison breakfast, but he decides against it."</p><p>How Eliot and Hardison get together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Long Time Passing Job

Six months later Parker sends them on a job by themselves. Eliot raises his eyebrow a flicker and she nods, so he helps talk Hardison down from rebuilding all his technology before they leave so it's got simple enough interfaces for Parker to use it.

The job is saving McRory's Pub again, their pub. Parker's got another one she's working on in Portland but she's certain it won't need anyone else for a week.

So Eliot and Hardison fly to Boston. Eliot's on alert waiting for Sterling to pop up, but Sterling's heart hasn't been in chasing them since Nate and Sophie left.

They set up in a hotel room, review the plan, get started. Eliot visits a few law offices. Hardison gets in as an IT guy. Mostly they just come back to the hotel room for sleep, one queen bed for each of them and not even a Parker curled up in the bathtub.

When they do end up awake in the room together, Hardison's focused on the job. The first morning it happens Eliot considers knocking out a hotel chef and stealing the uniform so he can make Hardison breakfast, but he decides against it. They don't have the safety net of the rest of the crew, so they need to be careful how much attention they get.

Four days in, they're killing time in the afternoon waiting for the mark to call them back. Hardison puts down his keyboard and stretches, which is Eliot's cue to get up, grab a beer, and bring Hardison a fresh bottle of orange soda.

Hardison stares at it like it's poisoned.

"Come on, man," Eliot says. He waggles it in front of Hardison's face. "Take the drink."

Hardison takes it. Then he looks up, into Eliot's face. "This—I—"

Eliot waits.

"Parker," Hardison says, like he's grabbing onto a tree to keep from drowning. "I can't, I, I'm with Parker. We can't—"

There are a lot of things Eliot could say. He knows exactly the words to kill this kind of conversation, knows he could do it to Hardison even with a look. He's done it often enough and lived out the endless days of edging around each other, attraction tamped down and smoldering.

He also knows he could grab Hardison and kiss him and they would probably never finish the conversation.

Eliot sits on the end of one of the beds and pops the cap off his beer. "Why do you think she sent us on this one?"

Hardison shrugs. "'Cause we didn't have enough people to run both jobs," he says, but there's a dawning realization in his voice.

"Right. And how many jobs do we take?" One. Always, one at a time. They turn down far more than they take.

"But it's the bar," Hardison says. "The bar, man! We can't abandon the bar."

Eliot says, "Nate couldn't abandon the bar."

Hardison twists the top off his soda. "Nate made us who we are. We owe him."

Eliot grunts and takes his beer out to the hotel room balcony. Hardison's a good man, so there are some things he doesn't get. Archie made Parker who she is. Moreau made Eliot who he is. Nate...Nate let them become themselves.

After a few minutes he hears Hardison start typing again.

They don't talk about it again that night.

#

The next day they call in to Parker. "How's it going?" she asks, her voice bright through the phone's connection. The coms don't work coast to coast—they've tried. Hardison says he could make it work but they got messed up with some executives taking money from a vaccine division to bribe inspectors for drug trials, and, well, he hasn't gotten around to it yet.

"Just wrappin' up," Eliot says.

Hardison says, "Yeah, yeah, we've just got a little more left to do. Then the bar'll be safe, for a while anyway."

"Good," Parker says, "good."

"How're things on your end?" Eliot asks.

Parker tells them about the slow game she's playing on an unsavory businessman preying on recent immigrants, tells Hardison that his newest microbrew's doing well in sales.

Hardison punches the air gently. "Yessss."

"Come home safe," Parker says at last, and disconnects. Eliot can't keep from smiling at Hardison's phone propped up on the table. It's been a long time since anyone told him that.

Hardison's hand shoots out to grip Eliot's wrist. "Eliot. You like her?" He sounds—wounded? Intrigued? Relieved?

"Parker?" He smoothes away his first reaction. He's trained that into himself, the wry chuckle, oh-we're-just-friends. He lets Hardison see he's serious when he says: "Yes."

"Oh," Hardison says, surprise overpowering everything else in his voice. He leans forward and kisses Eliot neatly on the mouth.

Eliot holds still as Hardison draws away. It strikes him as entirely characteristic that this, of all things, was what got Hardison to cross that last barrier inside his head.

"Is that not--?" Hardison starts to say. Eliot tips his head up, not wanting to talk, and Hardison obediently kisses him again.

Sterling shows up the next morning while Eliot's lips still feel kiss-bruised and his body still sings the aches of having had sex. Eliot takes down his henchmen, Hardison destroys his evidence, and they give Sterling their own mark tied up in string with a bow.

They don't get to look the mark in the eye as he gets arrested for underhanded money transfers, but that's the only sour note.

Eliot lets Hardison go first down the jetway. He looks back at the last moment, scanning the Logan Airport crowd, and yes: there's Sterling. Eliot nods a little, and Sterling nods back, and then Eliot follows Hardison to their seats.

Parker will be quite pleased at the results of their trip, Eliot thinks. He most definitely is.


End file.
